Corneal abscess due to Suttonella indologenes

Abstract

© 2007 Elsevier 0196-4399/00 (see frontmatter) 139 Case Report The patient was a 75-year-old female who was admitted to the hospital in December 2004 with a diagnosis of ocular cicatricial pemphigoid (ocular scar with blisters) (1). She presented with severe corneal lesions and palpebral (eyelid) lesions secondary to trichiasis (inversion of eyelid hairs, causing irritation) and symblepharon (adhesion of eyelid to eyeball) in both eyes, which were treated with 50 mg of azathioprine/ day. In June 2005, she returned to the ophthalmology service and a corneal abscess (0.5 cm by 1 cm) was diagnosed. Specimens for bacterial, mycobacterial, and fungal smears and cultures were obtained from the corneal scrapings under slit lamp examination. The scrapings were inoculated onto 5% Columbia sheep blood agar, chocolate agar, Sabouraud dextrose agar, and Lowenstein-Jensen agar using standard microbiological culture techniques. After 24 h of incubation in air supplemented with 5% CO2, small, smooth, and glistening colonies grew, which showed slight alpha hemolysis on sheep blood agar. The colonial appearance resembled Capnocytophaga sp. (Fig. 1). The colonies were gray with spreading edges, showing gliding motility. After 72 h of incubation, the colonies were larger, their diameters increasing by Case Report